May 2006: Goodbye Alias

In the final scene of the series finale of Alias, the show concludes with a depiction of Sydney’s post-CIA life. She is able to successfully reconcile her career as a secret agent with her desire to be a wife and mother. Sydney and her husband- her old CIA handler- have retired, gotten married, and have two young children; but a visit from an old coworker indicates she is still active in espionage and ‘freelances’ for fun. Viewers watch as her daughter successfully completes a type of IQ test Sydney’s father gave her when she was a young girl, indicating that settling  into a normal family structure does not guarantee an escape from covert operations- and that perhaps the ‘lifestyle’ of a spy runs in the family. This notion fuses espionage and familial life in Sydney Bristow’s character, and informs the audience’s perception of Jennifer Garner, who had given birth to a daughter herself just one year earlier.